Apple confirms presence of proprietary chip in shuffle headphones, licensing fee

A flurry of news broke out over yesterday regarding the proprietary headphones required by Apple's new iPod shuffle, and now that Monday's here and everyone's back in the office, some things are starting to get cleared up. For starters, both Macworld and Boing Boing Gadgets have confirmed with Apple and various third-party vendors that the new shuffle headphones do in fact contain a proprietary control chip, and that would-be headphone makers have to pay to license it from Apple as part of the Made for iPod program. Yep, that's bad news, confirmed -- but all hope for inexpensive accessories isn't lost, as we're told that the chip isn't encrypted or otherwise locked down in any way, so it's easily cloned by companies who'd rather not pay. Still, eschewing Made for iPod certification pretty much dooms a product to niche status in the Apple universe, so it's a pretty weak consolation -- when this all shakes out, we're guessing only Apple-taxed headphones will be widely available for the shuffle, and that makes the value proposition somewhat hard to see. Just say no, people.

Read - Macworld
Read - BBG

[grull27 @ Mar 16th 2009 4:11PM]

Apple confirms self-destruction to iPod Shuffle sales.

[iLoveApple @ Mar 16th 2009 4:18PM]

Self destruction? This is a revolutionary idea. By introducing this chip, Apple ensures that we, the consumers, get the best performance possible.

Thanks, Apple!

[Leo @ Mar 16th 2009 4:20PM]

CRAPGADGET OF THE YEAR! No, of the decade!

[adokimus @ Mar 16th 2009 4:20PM]

@iloveapple

shut up

[iGoon#2 @ Mar 16th 2009 4:20PM]

YES! you are correct iLuvApplets,

Just like the Printer Manufactures, they want to ensure that you only use their refills so that you get the best possible blacks and yellows possible, and Apple wants to make sure that you get the best possible sound instead of using those par of $250 sure you have...

AHAHAH!

[Sean @ Mar 16th 2009 4:21PM]

Obvious troll is obvious.

[chispito @ Mar 16th 2009 4:21PM]

Initially I don't think it will hurt the sales. Rather, it will become a PR nightmare as customers learn the hard way how expensive and complicated it will be to use the headphones of their choice (not to mention how complicated it will be period just to operate the thing).

My sister simply can't use most earbuds, so I have no clue when she would be able to use one of these if she just bought it. It's tupid, too, because if Apple insisted on this assinine approach, all they had to do was put a second 3.5 mm connection AFTER THE FREAKING CONTROLS.

[Joshua Sayers @ Mar 16th 2009 4:39PM]

I second the 3.5 mm jack on the cord after the controls. They could completely leave headphones out: give you a short cable with the controls a 3.5 mm jack at the end, and voila its a byo headphones party. Most people bitch about the ipod headphones anyway so apple saves a dollar and leaves the door open for yet another ICessory (short cables with licensed chips in them).

[Aguiluz @ Mar 16th 2009 4:40PM]

LOL, my 1GB MP3 player for $15 is small (1.5"x1.5"x1/4") and has a screen, a microphone, controls, games (tetris) and can play video.

Beat that, Apple!

(It says MPK1062 at the back, made by Curtis.)

[bandigolo @ Mar 16th 2009 4:46PM]

Whether or not it will affect initial sales depends on how quickly people realize these things are a scam... at 30 days or less, I'm not betting on the mass of consumers figuring it out on time.

[eMax @ Mar 16th 2009 5:47PM]

This can be semi-remedied, by someone making a "headphone extension cable with inline remote" then you can connect any headphone to. You might have a long ass cable, but you can use any headphone.

Just like the GEN1 iphone recessed jack. and all of the adapters that were released for that.

[iGoon#2 @ Mar 16th 2009 4:57PM]

Cool, I have the Curtis SMP 1002 shuffle clone... Very good!

plays wma and mp3

[box @ Mar 16th 2009 5:11PM]

I guess the shuffle is aimed at people who dont really use it for the sake of enjoying music as an 'audiophile' would, so they can put up with Apples crappy headphones, lack of easily being able to choose what to listen to, rubbish iTunes software etc. The new shuffle itself is an abomination anyway.

[Thomas Prescott @ Mar 16th 2009 5:20PM]

@ILoveApple

Your sarcasm is genius, shame you got modded down.

[crescentdavid @ Mar 16th 2009 5:27PM]

iGreed meets bag-o-hurt.

[FILA @ Mar 16th 2009 6:13PM]

i just dont know if i can laugh anymore my side hurts

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

nope, I guess I was wrong, always have room for that

[OneLove @ Mar 16th 2009 6:24PM]

Don't worry people, Apple will sell you a 3.5 mm extension cord with built in controls! $39.99

[Meat @ Mar 23rd 2009 11:08AM]

All you guys will forget all about this in about a week and will probably buy two sets of Apples' proprietary headphones while your face is still pink from their numerous E-facepalms.....

[Haikibutsu @ Mar 16th 2009 7:52PM]

When I got my iPod Classic 80gb a year and a half ago, I was pissed when I learned I couldn't play videos on a dock, except for some overpriced Apple shiny dock.

I love Apple's design and styles, but ever since the MacBook Error, I mean Air, its been down hill from that. Unexciting iPod updates, massive overpricity, and other factors have turned me away from Apple. The only thing I like about Apple is OS X, and even so, I do dual boot with Windows 7.

I think fanboys on both sides are stupid, as are their misconceptions. Yes, OS X supports right click. Yes, Vista can be good.

Vista is NOT made for your computer stuck in your basement for 5 years. It is meant to run on higher end machines with the processing power to utilize it to full capability.

Mac OS X runs, if you tweak it just a bit, on non-Apple hardware. Its pretty easy.

I have had my gripes with Apple. I don't like their business practices.

Its great to have both Mac and Windows.

[Carl @ Mar 16th 2009 10:54PM]

I went and played with one today and an apple store, and by played mean pick it up, i'm not putting those headphones on. It is insanely small. I will give them that. But all the crap that goes along with it, no thanks. Ordered my new 8GB nano for 133 shipped free.. And it can use my sport headphones, which is what i'm using the nano for anyways.

[jessedegenerate @ Mar 17th 2009 12:00AM]

wow, happy to jump on apple huh?

it's not drm. it's volume control. look it up.

/the anti apple mafia now pisses me off more than the ms one.

[protozoider @ Mar 17th 2009 8:12AM]

Great idea Apple, repeat the mistakes that helped doom Sony to its current state of near failure.

[Lundmark @ Mar 17th 2009 8:45AM]

Funny how you fuckers bashed Apple to pieces in yesterday's article and now you get to know that were all wrong.

Lolz.

[GingerFox @ Mar 16th 2009 4:12PM]

bullshit

[iGoon#2 @ Mar 16th 2009 4:25PM]

Yea, leave it to Apple to remove DRM from all songs but it ends up on the Headphones!

AHAHAH! Apple has you guys by the Mc.Nuggets...

[MikeZ @ Mar 16th 2009 4:40PM]

Wouldn´t that be the iNuggets?

[required @ Mar 16th 2009 4:41PM]

Correction: Apple did not remove DRM from songs. What they have done is offer to remove some of the DRM if you give them a lot more money.

[Patriks7 @ Mar 16th 2009 5:05PM]

The problem is that this isn't targeted at people like you, but at people who know shit about this stuff and just buy it cause it's Apple and think they have the best in the world, no matter how much it costs.

[Joshua Ochs @ Mar 16th 2009 5:44PM]

@required
All new songs you buy as of the end of April will be DRM free. If you want to get a DRM-free copy of one you already bought, yes, then you have to pay a few cents. Bandwidth isn't free you know. (And before you even think of responding to that, I work in network architecture and hosting - I *know* bandwidth.)

[Alex @ Mar 16th 2009 5:51PM]

You can get around iTunes DRM by writing your files to an audio CD while in iTunes and then importing them back again. I can't understand why anyone would buy music from the iTunes Store and NOT back it up on a disk. Yeah, this way is a bit of a faff if you are just wanting to 'send them to your friends' *ahem*, but there are ways around it. I personally have only bought one album from iTunes and I have it on CD in a wallet as well as on my hard drive.

*Limewire

[VanillaSpice @ Mar 16th 2009 7:36PM]

@Required - your comment only becomes true when you replace "Apple" with "the record labels" ... it was the record labels' decision to impose DRM in the first place, it was their decision to remove DRM, it was their decision to charge for DRM-less versions of music you already have, and it is they who are receiving the lion's share of the upgrade charge. Not Apple, because they do not own the music, they cannot determine the conditions of sale - only the owners (the labels) can do that.

[John @ Mar 16th 2009 8:18PM]

Bandwidth is irrelevant for DRM stripping. Apple knows how to remove the DRM, all they would have to do is package a utility with iTunes. And, considering how much bandwidth they have, the additional cost would be negligible.

[Hawkman @ Mar 16th 2009 9:32PM]

@John – it's not that simple. DRMed songs were sold to you under different legal agreements with you, and different agreements with the record labels. Sure, they could build a tool to strip DRM off, and negotiate agreements to allow it – but there's no profit in it; just a marginal PR win that few people will care about, and little gain for most users.

[a ham sandwich @ Mar 16th 2009 4:12PM]

::facepalm::

[Homeboy @ Mar 16th 2009 4:29PM]

Make that a triple face palm as this marks an evil beginning. Expect Apple to apply this ludicrousness to the up and coming revision of the iPhony and Nano.

[Nick @ Mar 16th 2009 5:10PM]

@Homeboy

Evil Beginning? you must have woken up from the iHipnotize spell because this has been Apple practice for quite a while. It is sad that there are so many Sheeple still asleep and follow their leader Jobs and do whatever he says and buy whatever he Apple makes.

[i.c. weiner @ Mar 16th 2009 4:12PM]

that's bogus

[Tiz @ Mar 16th 2009 4:13PM]

Poor apple, poor apple. Just stupid

[chispito @ Mar 16th 2009 4:17PM]

Poor Apple? I feel sorry for the poor consumers who buy it because it's Apple and it must be good. Sure, to me it's pretty crazy that you can even sell an MP3 player without so much as a simple two-digit LCD telling you what track you're on, but I pity anybody who somehow still doesn't understand what makes a DAP functional, and especially pity anyone who additionally can't use Apple's cruddy included earbuds.

[roger_huston @ Mar 16th 2009 4:24PM]

I am sorry, Apple has been stupid since it was founded.

In the PC area, they had a superior product (they still do) but they have less than 5% of the world market, Why? Stupidity!

This is another example of Apple being Apple.

[iGoon#2 @ Mar 16th 2009 4:24PM]

How so?

iPod shuffle was $49, this one is $79... Seems to me Apple is making some big scratch on each of these little DRM turds

[required @ Mar 16th 2009 4:44PM]

it's more ethically challenged then it is stupid because if they get away with it it's evil-genius

[Tim Rosencrans @ Mar 16th 2009 5:04PM]

True.
But Apple can't really do anything about the fact that PC users are stupid.
All they can do is keep making the best products in the industry.

[K4Lic0 @ Mar 16th 2009 10:55PM]

@chispito

You must realize that the Apple earbuds included with the iPods just don't fit some people's ears, mine included.. something about them makes them fall out with the a bit of movement, and if you're buying a shuffle, it's meant for exercising and s**t like that.

[Wwhat @ Mar 17th 2009 4:09PM]

It's not THAT complex though: http://techspank.com/?p=215 (how to replace the buds on the apple headphones instructional video).

[Jeremy K. @ Mar 16th 2009 4:14PM]

Epic Fail.

[Rollins @ Mar 16th 2009 4:14PM]

I thought Apple understood that the 2nd generation Shuffle was nearly perfect when they chose to simply update the colors during the last major iPod update. Apparently not.

I hope the market rejects this iteration hard. Apple needs to know that going this far to sacrifice usability for style isn't excusable.

[cameron @ Mar 16th 2009 4:28PM]

Your Dead Right! Without Lowering My Comment Rank, I Genuinely Think That It Was THE PERFECT Low Budget MP3 Player, Know They Have F*cked It Up. Don't lower my rank for expressing an opinion, we all have the rights, even apple fanboys and windows fanboys. but not linux, lets face it, they're like the loser at school (please don't its just a joke!)

[adrian @ Mar 16th 2009 5:03PM]

Don't tell me what to do cameron, enjoy your lighter shade of grey.

[Brandon @ Mar 16th 2009 6:51PM]

I'm a fan of the first gen shuffle myself, but eh.